TUCSON, Ariz. — At least 1,900 AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles a year: that is the production floor behind a five-year multiyear contract, with two option years, that RTX’s Raytheon business announced on Sept. 28 and valued at up to $20.7 billion. The company says the award will push AMRAAM output to record-setting levels.
AMRAAM, the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, is the radar-guided weapon U.S. and allied fighters carry for beyond-visual-range shots. The new contract turns a production commitment the company announced earlier this year into a long-term buy.
RTX’s Sept. 28 announcement says Raytheon “will accelerate production of AMRAAM® missiles to record-setting levels under the terms of a five-year multi-year contract with two option years valued up to $20.7 billion awarded as part of the Department of War’s Arsenal of Freedom.” The release adds that the contract “follows the landmark agreement between Raytheon and the Department of War announced earlier this year, which supports the annual production of at least 1,900 AMRAAM missiles.”
The February framework behind the 1,900 figure
The 1,900-a-year number traces to Feb. 4, 2026, when RTX announced five framework agreements with the Department of War, each lasting up to seven years. They covered Tomahawk, AMRAAM, the Standard Missile-3 Block IB and Block IIA interceptors, and the Standard Missile-6. In that release the company said it would increase annual AMRAAM production “to at least 1,900.”
The September contract is the AMRAAM piece of that set moving from framework to award. RTX says the company “has invested heavily in recent years to ramp production of AMRAAM and other critical munitions, nearly doubling production in 2025 compared to 2024.” The release does not give a current annual output figure, and it does not break the $20.7 billion ceiling into individual lots or unit prices.
What the missile has done
The company’s claims about the weapon’s record come in the same Sept. 28 release: AMRAAM “is fielded by 44 countries, achieving more than 7,000 successful live fires in test and combat,” and it is integrated on 14 platforms.
Raytheon’s AMRAAM product page lists the aircraft that carry it, among them the F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-22 and F-35, along with the Eurofighter Typhoon and the JAS-39 Gripen. The company calls it “the only radar-guided, air-to-air missile cleared to fly on the F-35,” and says the missile also serves as the baseline interceptor for the ground-based NASAMS air defense system, firing from the surface without modification. The same page says the missile flies on inertial guidance with midcourse updates and finishes with its own on-board active radar, which is what lets it work in all weather and beyond visual range.
The missile is also still being pushed in testing. In a Sept. 16, 2025, release, Raytheon said tests flown with the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command in Eglin Air Force Base airspace in Florida in fall 2024 produced the longest known AMRAAM shot by a fifth-generation fighter and demonstrated an extended time of flight. The company did not publish the range.
Raytheon President Phil Jasper framed the award around demand from U.S. and allied services.
“We continue to make significant investments in our workforce, technology, supply chain and facilities to rapidly scale production capacity and meet surging demand from the U.S. Air Force, Navy and our international partners.”
Those performance and demand statements are the manufacturer’s own. The dollar figure is a ceiling, not a payment: RTX describes the contract as valued “up to” $20.7 billion.
What the record now fixes is the schedule and the floor. The contract runs five years with two option years beyond that, and the production baseline under the February agreement is at least 1,900 AMRAAMs a year.
Top image: An AIM-120 AMRAAM on display at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Image Credit: Balon Greyjoy — CC0 / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.